TEP or Mifi wireless hotspot?

Anyone ever used a mifi wireless hot spot on a ship in Alaska waters? We use one when traveling and find it more useful than the public wifi offered by hotels, ships, etc. We like a secure connection and not having to compete with many people using the same system (which seems to really slow things down). Any comments? Thanks!

Your hotspot still has to work off of a cell tower, and unless there is one close by on land, it will be off the tower on the ship and cost big bucks. It should work fine on shore. EM

Anyone ever used a mifi wireless hot spot on a ship in Alaska waters? We use one when traveling and find it more useful than the public wifi offered by hotels, ships, etc. We like a secure connection and not having to compete with many people using the same system (which seems to really slow things down). Any comments? Thanks!

There was a thread about this previously.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2244394

There was a thread about this previously.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2244394

Yes, I posted it. I did some further research and some knowledgable tech geeks ("geeks" written with admiration) said that the mifi would not be dependant on the ship's system. Just checking in for any other people's experiences since it is a relatively new system. Pablo 222, you are very observant!

Yes, I posted it. I did some further research and some knowledgable tech geeks ("geeks" written with admiration) said that the mifi would not be dependant on the ship's system.

At sea with no cell tower availabale what would it be dependent on then?

Yes, I posted it. I did some further research and some knowledgable tech geeks ("geeks" written with admiration) said that the mifi would not be dependant on the ship's system. Just checking in for any other people's experiences since it is a relatively new system. Pablo 222, you are very observant!

Those tech geeks are NOT knowledgable and should be fired. If they knew what they were talking about they would be aware of the range of a cell tower ( 3-5 miles). The ship will often be well away from any tower so your mifi would have to work off the ahipboard system. This will be very expensive. But it is your money.

Technically they might be correct if you wanted to use it as an ad hoc network to connect devices over short range.

If you want to use it to connect to the internet it has to be in range of a cell system with an internet connection. In most cases (possibly not the inside passage) you will not be able to get a land based signal of any sufficient strength.

In ports it will work just fine.

Technically they might be correct if you wanted to use it as an ad hoc network to connect devices over short range.

 

If you want to use it to connect to the internet it has to be in range of a cell system with an internet connection. In most cases (possibly not the inside passage) you will not be able to get a land based signal of any sufficient strength.

 

In ports it will work just fine.

However they seem to be implying you don't need either one. :rolleyes:

(ships connection/celltower)

Yes, I posted it. I did some further research and some knowledgable tech geeks ("geeks" written with admiration) said that the mifi would not be dependant on the ship's system. Just checking in for any other people's experiences since it is a relatively new system. Pablo 222, you are very observant!

Could they be saying that the mifi is not dependent on the ship's WIFI?

That is different than saying it is not dependent on the ship's cell tower.

I used a tep three years ago. It only worked in port. It did not recognise the ship's marine signal.

MIfi has no dependency on ship wifi. Basically it converts a cell signal to its own wifi. I use my iPhone in hotspot mode for the same function (ATT)

MIfi has no dependency on ship wifi. Basically it converts a cell signal to its own wifi. I use my iPhone in hotspot mode for the same function (ATT)

If you have a cell signal.

In ports it will work just fine.

Not necessarily. I've been ports where I couldn't get a cell phone signal from my cabin or balcony because we were on the seaward side. But if I went to the other side of the ship, facing land, the cell signal was fine.

Not necessarily. I've been ports where I couldn't get a cell phone signal from my cabin or balcony because we were on the seaward side. But if I went to the other side of the ship, facing land, the cell signal was fine.

I think they mean on land. If you are lucky it might extend on the ship.

Correct. With all of the steel on the ship, I expect pockets of dead signal based on relation to tower.. Usually ok if I put the phone out on the balcony (I traded my hotspot for a tethered phone)

I think they mean on land. If you are lucky it might extend on the ship.

FYI: We used the tep on a ship circumnavigating Newfoundland and it worked beautifully....better than the ship's expensive wifi system. The tep is not dependent on the ship's system at all. Will use it in Alaska and Iceland in 2016.

I suspect Newfoundland is a lot more populated / developed than the passage to Alaska and therefore has better cell coverage.

Ike

p.s. I just looked up the inside passage coverage for AT&T and it is better than I thought from Juneau south inside passage coverage looks to be about 30-50%, but from Juneau north to Anchorage there is almost no covrerage until you get into Anchorage.

From the Tep FAQ page:

"While Tep offers excellent coverage while on land, maritime coverage will depend on the distance out at sea and the cruise location – the closer to land, the more likely there will be coverage. The best course of action would be to ask the cruise operator if there is mobile data coverage (3G) on the cruise. In any case, there will surely be coverage while docked."

And if you use the mobile data 3G on the ship you pay ship data rates...

From the Tep FAQ page:

 

"While Tep offers excellent coverage while on land, maritime coverage will depend on the distance out at sea and the cruise location – the closer to land, the more likely there will be coverage. The best course of action would be to ask the cruise operator if there is mobile data coverage (3G) on the cruise. In any case, there will surely be coverage while docked."

And if you use the mobile data 3G on the ship you pay ship data rates...

Exactly! Which is why we wanted to try the tep. Will be interested to see the difference between Alaska (remote areas) and Iceland (one of the most tech savvy places in the world). Will provide further updates in 2016.

Internet does not appear out of thin air. Cell towers have max range of 45 miles. But that is ideal conditions. And your phone must be powerful enough to transmit this far. Honestly, over open water, I wouldn't count for more than 10 miles. And since ships try to stay at least 12 nautical miles offshore so casinos would work, do not expect any signal at all.

Your MiFi will have a list of preferred networks it will connect to. All the way on a bottom of a list, there is a "CRUISE SHIP" network operator. If your MiFi cannot find any other preferred networks, it will connect to ship's local tower, and gladly serve you internet at $15 per megabyte. A short YouTube video will cost you $200 to play, and at horrible speeds.

Meanness....that is not the way the tep works...it connects to its own tep network via a personal password. Except for one area, it worked well....don't know how far we were from land. You have to be within 15 feet of the "hotspot", which is the equipment that is rented....it is small enough to fit in your hand.

Meanness....that is not the way the tep works...it connects to its own tep network via a personal password. Except for one area, it worked well....don't know how far we were from land. You have to be within 15 feet of the "hotspot", which is the equipment that is rented....it is small enough to fit in your hand.

Actually, no. It has to have a wireless phone signal (G3 data from a cell signal, read tower) or else it can't work. Does not matter how the hot spot works. If it can't grab a cell signal it can't connect to anything beyond the little area that your devices are connected to. Thus, you are not on the Internet in any shape, way, manner or form. Anyway, we will look forward to your report next year on how it worked in Alaska. Please let us know. Thanks!:cool:

Meanness....that is not the way the tep works...it connects to its own tep network via a personal password. Except for one area, it worked well....don't know how far we were from land. You have to be within 15 feet of the "hotspot", which is the equipment that is rented....it is small enough to fit in your hand.

And where do you think your TEP gets the internet?

If you are out of reach of land towers, you will most likely connect to cruise ship's local cell tower. It's communications are routed through a satellite network. And while you are using that, you can enjoy very high latency, and very low bandwidth connection for low low price of $15 per megabyte from your cell phone carrier. MP3 download will cost you $60.

Think about it this way. If your cell phone can get a signal from your carrier (iPhone will have carrier name on top left. Android phones vary, but most lock screens will show you carrier name), then your hotspot can get signal and serve you internet. If you get no cell phone signal, no internet from hotspot. If your cell phone carrier says "CRUISE SHIP", then your TEP is probably on same network and be ready to mortgage your house to pay for that bill. Some carriers actually require you to dial a certain string on your keypad to enable data on cruise ship, to prevent accidental sky-high bills.

I am very familiar with personal hotspots, and I work in IT field. And wireless communication is something I am pretty good at.

Let me echo that. A hotspot (regardless of brand) is just a router that grabs a signal from a provider (whoever that is) and feeds it out to your devices. That signal has to come from a local source unless the unit has sat capability (no retail unit I know of does)